Do Over
by Dragon XD
Summary: Team Seven uses a jutsu goes back in time to avert a disaster, and end up causing some along the way.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, that's Kishimoto

Chapter 1: Izanagi

Sakura was in heaven, or close to it anyway. Their first real ninja mission, one that involved actual ninja on ninja combat, had come to an end with everyone coming home with all of their limbs attached. It was quite a feat considering they were still genin with no real combat experience.

From what she could tell, Kakashi-sensei had done pretty much all the work what with Sakura catching a glimpse of his hand halfway through that Haku boy's chest and Zabuza… Well, what mattered was that they were all still alive.

Better than alive really. Sasuke had apparently managed to turn on his Sharingan…even though he had only been able to do it intermittently since they started heading home. But it was still something.

"Kakashi-sensei, is it me, or should we have been back home by now?" Naruto asked.

Sakura blinked when she realized that Naruto had a point. They had only taken a week to get to the Land of Waves, but the trip back had already been nine days of walking. The scenery didn't look familiar either. Which meant…

"Kakashi-sensei, why are we taking different route if its so much slower?" she asked.

The elder ninja looked back with a half-closed eye that at least hinted he was smiling beneath his mask. "Why, to keep my reputation. You know I never show up to anything on time." Of course his real reason was much more practical, but Kakashi didn't want to tell them he was patrolling the area for other Mist ninja that might had infiltrated the Land of Fire's boarders while hunting Zabuza.

"Besides, it good for you kids to get out and see the world," he added before Naruto and Sakura could start shouting at him. "How many times have you three even been outside the village before this mission?"

The question put Sasuke in a sour mood. "Ten."

"Kakashi-sensei, I already told you this is my first time," Naruto reminded him.

"Three…that I can remember," Sakura said. "My family went on vacations every few years."

Kakashi took a moment to study Sasuke and his sudden change in mood. _Probably should have approached that differently with him_, the man realized. But, it wasn't as if he could completely avoid the topic of…well _anything_ to do with family really. It wasn't just Sasuke, the matter was probably a touchy subject with Naruto as well.

Then there was Sakura… Kakashi hated to admit it, but he had no idea _what_ to do with Sakura; on any level. While she had good chakra control, the girl was just so…_average. _She didn't come from a well established family, and was the only person capable of graduating the academy's preliminary exam that her family had produced since they had come to the Leaf. Her intelligence might earn her a spot on the Leaf's encryption squad, but that seemed as far as she was going to go.

He turned his attention back to the road, and kept walking.

"What the?" Sasuke said.

"Uh, is it just me, or-" Naruto mumbled before his voice cut off.

_Then again, she's young_, Kakashi reminded himself. _She could just be a late bloomer_. _I should stop trying to think about things as if we're still in the old days_.

That was the difference between their childhood and his: they actually got time to have one. In retrospect, that was probably one of the better decisions his teacher had made as Hokage. There would be no more early graduations for students, no children with their age still in the single digits sent out on the battlefield. Itachi hadn't been the only kid to become horribly scarred from that.

As always, thinking about his teacher made Kakashi remember that night so many years ago. He couldn't help but wonder what had gone _so_ wrong with Kushina's pregnancy that the nine-tails had been set free.

He remembered being told to stand on the sidelines as the fox ravaged the village.

For the millionth time, Kakashi thought how things might have gone if he had been there at his sensei's side, both during the delivery and the battle. Would his Sharingan of noticed something wrong with the seal? If he had offered his life to seal away the fox, would Minato still be leading the Leaf?

_Idiot, stop thinking about such things, you can't change the past_, he told himself.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Sakura's panicked calling of his name drew Kakashi out of his melancholy remembrance to check the surrounding area while he spun around to see where she was looking, and what had gotten her so worked up. When she came into view, Kakashi caught a glimpse of her fading form before the girl completely disappeared, leaving a pile of clothes and her ninja tool bag next to similar piles that consisted of Sasuke and Naruto's belongings that looked like they just just been dumped haphazardly on the ground.

But at the moment that was only a tiny concern in his mind. It was the _other thing_ that Naruto had left behind that held Kakashi's attention. A mass of red chakra swirled around the clearing he was in, slowly taking an all too familiar shape as the demon's oppressive presence filled the air.

Kakashi didn't have time to think, to question what was going on, or wonder how this was happening. Before the Nine-Tails could fully reform, the man quickly formed the hand signs needed for an Earth jutsu.

A second later, Kakashi was covered in dirt hand hidden underground as four enormous clawed paws covered in dark orange fur slammed into the ground around them when the Nine-Tails completed it reformation.

"**Free! After twelve long years I AM FREE**!"

From his hiding place underground, Kakashi watched through the small peephole he had left as the creature looked around the area, then sniffed the air.

_The fox…but how? What the hell is going on_? Kakashi wondered as the nine -tailed demon scanned the area above him.

-Four years later…or about twenty minutes ago, depending on your perspective-

Naruto tapped his foot in irritation as he waited at the designated meeting spot, taking a moment to check the sun overhead to double-check the time and make sure he wasn't late. Which he _wasn't_.

"Ugh, why do I have to be the first person here?" he grumbled while looking around the empty mesa in the middle of the desert. He couldn't even feel anyone else approaching, and that meant he'd have a _long_ wait.

"Actually, I've been here for a good twenty minutes."

Although the voice was familiar, Naruto reached for a kunai out of habit when he heard someone taking from behind him that he hadn't felt disturb the surrounding chakra. Even when he saw Sakura standing there, Naruto didn't lower his guard. "How did you-"

A wave of chakra hit Naruto's senses, and he put his weapon back in its holster. But he still wanted an answer to his incomplete question. "How did you sneak up on me." As far as he knew, that was impossible now.

Sakura pointed to the tiny green diamond symbol on her forehead. "Chakra storage. I did more than just inventing the inverse seal these past few months," she explained.

"So, you can do Granny's regeneration jutsu now?"

The question seemed to depress Sakura somewhat, and Naruto winced. He knew the cost that jutsu had brought on the former Hokage when the war ended. But Sakura did answer his question.

"No, I use it for something else. But if I divert all my chakra into storage, sensors can't find me just as if I've hidden it and stopped new chakra production."

Then Sakura looked around the level ground and frowned. "So it's just us?" When Naruto nodded, Sakura reached into her pouch to pull out a storage scroll and activated it. After the smoke cleared, she checked the storage chest that had just appeared in front of her to make sure it had all the brushes, ink, and several jars with IV tubes attached.

Sakura took a needle attached to a tube, and looked over to Naruto. "Hey Naruto, give me your arm."

The request along with the gleaming sharp object brought a frown to Naruto's face. "Uh…what for?"

"I need your blood…about one and a half liters, maybe two," Sakura told him.

Naruto backed away from the crazy girl with the needle. "W-WHY THE HELL WOULD I NEED TO GIVE YOU SOMETHING LIKE THAT? USE YOUR OWN BLOOD!"

Sakura threw the jar and hit him in the head, which didn't actually break the container, but managed to knock Naruto down. "I DID!" she yelled. "And for your information, seals work best when the people involved have their own blood mixed in with them. If you want this stupid plan to have even a _chance_ of not blowing up in our faces, then I need a proper conduit for your chakra!"

Naruto looked at the jar, then listened to his own heartbeat. "Uh…won't loosing that much blood kill me?"

"There'll probably be some light headedness, but considering you've got the fox inside of you, I doubt there will be any real danger if you bled out _five_ liters and not have any bad effects." Sakura told him.

Whn Naruto looked inside himself for Kurama's conformation, the giant fox raised an eyebrow. "**How the hell should I know**? **It's your body. I'm made of chakra, remember? I don't even HAVE real blood when I'm outside**."

His partner's tone made Naruto wonder if agreeing to this was such a good idea. It all sounded ridiculous. But, he found a vein and stabbed it to start collecting Sakura's grisly art supplies.

As he waited for the blood to drain, Naruto watched Sakura take out a brush and normal pain, then start drawing a circle on the ground along with numerous kanji, arrows, and various other symbols. "I thought you said we needed blood."

Sakura finished the designs around the circle that nearly encompassed all of the mesa, then started work on a much smaller one. "We do, but we don't have enough to waste on sloppy design and do-overs." She frowned at the last kanji on the ground, then carefully washed it away before making another. "Something I can just trace makes things easier."

Several minutes later, a chakra entering his sensing range brought Naruto to attention. He stood up to look around, then up into the sky where the chakra signature was coming from. "Well, he's here."

Sakura stopped her drawing, then set the art supplies aside before she stepped away from the drawings on the ground and put on her gloves. Beside her, Naruto took a moment to look at the tiny symbols etched all over them, too small to read. It seemed that Tsunade's storage technique wasn't the only thing Sakura had learned in the past month.

As close as she was, Naruto could feel the numerous emotions that ran trough her: trepidation, hope, sadness, joy, and outright _fear_. Naruto couldn't really blame her since his own gut was churning with several of those same feelings.

Half a minute later, a giant hawk swooped down and disappeared in a puff a smoke that dropped the third member of their little cabal with a large black case in his right hand. Sasuke looked at the two other Leaf ninja with his Mangekyo Sharingan, then turned his full attention on Naruto. "What's _she_ doing here?" he demanded evenly. "I told you to bring a sealing master."

"Sakura _is_ a sealing master…now anyway," Naruto told him, mumbling the last bit before looking at her. "And I told her about the jutsu. She says that its possible." Then, Naruto looked back to Sasuke and steeled his face. "Besides, who the hell _else_ was gonna help us?"

Sasuke studded the young woman for a moment, then looked back at Naruto. "Let's just say I've become better at persuading people this past month than I used to be." But he didn't object, which Naruto took as a good sign.

Then Sasuke sighed and tossed the case to Sakura. "Whatever, I suppose this is better than the original plan in any case. Here's the materials for the jutsu" he said.

Sakura caught the plastic case and opened it up. The things inside made her gasp. Naruto too, when he peeked over her shoulder to see inside. "There's are-"

"Sharingan," Sasuke interrupted. "One hundred and forty in all." The number was greater than what should have been preset during the night of the massacre, which made Sasuke wonder just how long Tobi had been harvesting them, and _how_. The Leaf would have made note of any missing Uchiha eyes, before Danzo's backroom dealings anyway.

On the other side of the mountaintop, Naruto studied Sasuke. The man's aura was too guarded to read fully, but Naruto knew Sasuke's reasons behind what they were doing _were_ genuine, and the deal they made on top of that would finally put things right.

Still, Naruto had more than a few doubts about if it was even possible. "So uh, tell me how this is all going to work again," he asked.

Sasuke growled at Naruto for making him repeat himself for the third time. "I told you, when Suigetsu and Juugo were re-supplying, they came across Orochimaru's secret library containing the theories on this jutsu."

"What makes you so damn sure it works?" Naruto grumbled.

The apparent blind faith Sasuke had in a madman's writing and the sheer ridiculousness of the claims made Naruto wonder his friend was just grasping at straws. "If this really is time travel, then don't you think someone would have used it already to do…_something_ that we would have heard of by now. What sort of jutsu just let's you hit a reset button and start over?"

"Izanagi."

"Bless you," Naruto said.

Sasuke managed to resist the urge to whack Naruto upside the head. "No you idiot! It's a Sharingan technique called Izanagi! When you found me at that bridge, do you honestly think that fool Danzo could have pushed me so much in combat that I was ready to collapse?" Sasuke asked before going on with his explanation. "He used a forbidden jutsu that rewound his personal timeline to a point where I hadn't killed him. This technique does that, but instead of just effecting one person, it effects the entire world and leaves the caster alone!" He sighed and grit his teeth. "Unfortunately it needs the power of a tailed-beast, and that means I've only got you to turn to."

As far as Sasuke knew, the technique was created by the Sage of the Sixth Paths long ago, when he had been the host to the Ten-tails and could use Izanagi without limit. It was originally intended to be a last resort in case another disaster occurred.

"And since we don't have a Sharingan, and Naruto's jinchuuriki, and you're the only one who actually knows how to do this jutsu, we need a conduit to channel everyone's chakra," Sakura said, explaining her part in this whole mess.

Naruto looked over to the case that held all of the creepy eyes. "Then why so many? These are just normal Sharingan too. Wouldn't your eyes work better?"

Sasuke crossed his arms, actually glad for a stupid question he was expecting. "They're fuel. One month per eye. After that, they become useless to anyone."

After doing the math in her head, Sakura turned her attention to Sasuke. "So, that's about twelve years then."

"It's one month per person," he corrected. "So it's more like six with-"

Sakura cut him off. "I'm going too."

"Forget it," Sasuke told her.

"Why not?" she demanded. "Even if you split the time between the three of us, that would make…about 3 years, nine months, and maybe a couple weeks. That's plenty of time!"

Then Sakura took her own stubborn stance. "And let's face it. Neither of us trust you enough to let you go alone, and…to be honest I'm pretty sure Naruto will mess _something_ up."

"Hey!" Naruto complained.

Sakura ignored the blonde and kept going. "And the thought of me being stuck with the two twelve year old versions of _you two_ makes me want to step off the edge over there," she said before thumbing behind her. "So face it, it's all of us, or none of us."

-Present day…or the past. Oh hell, it's after the damn time travel thing when Naruto and Sasuke forced their way into the past okay?-

Naruto hit the ground, the windblown rock floor touching his skin. He felt sick, and cold…and wondered why there was the weird taste of ash in his mouth. His whole body hurt, and it felt as if someone had reached inside of him and ripped out yesterday's dinner. "Hey Sasuke, you alright?"

"Shut up."

_I'll take that as a yes_, Naruto thought before he looked over to were Sasuke was laying, then started to turn his attention to the other member of their group. "Sakura."

"Look at me, and I'll _kill_ you!" the pink hair told him.

"I said shut up," Sasuke grumbled. When Naruto looked at him again, the boy was rubbing his eyes.

Concern ran through Naruto's body for a moment. "Hey, you okay?"

"Headache," the other ninja grumbled. "And my eyes are sore."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Well I've got a whole freaking body ache over here!" he yelled. "Geeze, you never said it was going to hurt so damn much!"

The blond ninja groaned, then turned to his inner world to get some support from his other partner. _Hey Kurama, how about a little tailed-beast healing power_? Naruto asked.

…_Kurama_?

Only…when he closed his eyes and 'turned' to his inner world, nothing happened.

Worse, he couldn't feel the presence of the nine tails _at_ _all_.

Naruto reached down and placed a hand on his stomach. He almost expected to feel a hole where the demon had been, but found only skin. "Hey, what's going on?" Naruto demanded before he looked over to Sasuke and found the other boy staring at his hand with his Sharingan glowing in the darkness of the night.

_Oh sure, he still has his eyes, but Kurama didn't come back_, Naruto thought.

Then, a sudden dread made a shiver run through Naruto's body. He remembered what his mother had shown him about the night Kurama had gotten out. Loosing the tailed beast had nearly killed her.

Naruto patted himself down to check off any injuries, and then frowned then he realized he was just fine. His chakra reserves were stable, and he could still move around all right. Aside from his missing tenet, everything seemed to be okay.

"What're you guys talking about? I feel fine…if a little sick," Sakura told them.

"From the looks of things, I'm guessing the jutsu only brings people back, not weapons or…other stuff," Sasuke said as he answered Naruto's question before finding something else to look at than the naked blonde.

Naruto opened his mouth to almost shout that wasn't what he was talking about, then closed it. _I should probably keep the fox a secret for right now_, Naruto told himself. "Well, let's head to the village."

The suggestion had Sasuke giving Naruto a scowl a second after he said it. "Excuse me?"

"The village," Naruto told him. "I can't wait to see me and show him how awesome I am! Or we are…this is going to get confusing real fast, isn't it?"

Sasuke snorted at the idea. "Do whatever you want. We're here, and so our agreement's at an end. I'll keep my promise, long as they stay out of my way."

Before Sasuke could just take off, Naruto wracked his brain to try and figure out a way to convince him to come along.

Sakura beat her to it. "Wait!"

Despite his better judgment, Sasuke turned around. "What?"

"What about Itachi?" she asked.

The question didn't receive an answer before Sasuke turned back around and started walking away again. "That's not your concern."

"How are you gonna find him then?" Sakura demanded. "There's no way you can do it on your own, and you know it!"

Sasuke scowled and turned to glare at the girl, which made her let out a small eep and turn around while trying to cover herself. "Don't tell me you actually thought I would be coming back to the Leaf with you idiots. Just what kind of fools are you?"

A smirk crossed Naruto's face. "I'm the biggest fool in the world," he replied before becoming more serious. "Look, even if you know where some of the Akatsuki are, there's no way you'll be able to find him on your own unless he wants to be found. You're not going to come back to the village because you _want_ to, its going to be because you _need_ to. Face it, the only place you actually know where he's gonna show up is the Leaf Village."

"…you may have a point there," Sasuke admitted.

"Great!" Sakura exclaimed. "…but uh…we should probably find some clothes first."

With the medic off guard, Naruto couldn't help sneaking a peek…or stop what came out his mouth. "Huh…so the pink hair is natural?"

"_**DIE**_!"

-The Road-

_What's going on_? Kakashi asked whoever was listening as he fought to keep himself under control.

He had seen a jinchuuriki die during the war. This wasn't how things were supposed to go. The monster was supposed to dissipate when its host died, and slowly reform over the years. If Naruto had died, then the Fourth's seal would have taken care of the Nine-Tails.

Was it some type of new jutsu? Kakashi hadn't seen any residual effects with his Sharingan. _If only Sakura had called out to me sooner…no, I shouldn't blame her. It's a sensei's duty to keep an eye on his students, and I failed in that._

The was the possibility that they were still alive…although that idea carried its own problems.

But the fox was whole and Naruto was…gone. On top of which, Sasuke and Sakura had also vanished. It didn't make any sense! Had they simply been too close to Naruto and got caught up in it somehow?

_Or was it the other way around_? Kakashi didn't know how many other villages knew about Naruto's jinchuuriki status, but everyone knew about Sasuke. The Uchiha heir and his eyes would be a tempting target. There was also the timing, with Sasuke disappearing the day after he had awakened his Sharingan.

_Then again, both of them could have been the target_, Kakashi considered. The Nine-Tails _and_ the Sharingan could make a destructive combination. Kakashi held no illusions towards the excuse that Naruto and Sasuke had been put on the same team because of their performance in school.

But that didn't explain why Sakura had also gone missing.

Whatever had happened, theorizing about it did no good. He needed to get back to the leave and report on what had happened to the Hokage. The Nine-Tails being loose was a very dangerous threat in more ways than one. It would wreck havoc in the countryside, and if another village managed to capture it…Kakashi didn't even want to think about the problems that would cause.

So, after searching their belongings for some type of seal that might have been used as a way to target the jutsu and finding nothing, Kakashi abandoned the road and headed strait through the woods.

-Meanwhile-

Naruto zipped up his new suit and studied himself in the reflection of the window's store. Behind him, Sasuke let out a sound of disapproval. "A hundred outfits, and you steal that one," he grumbled while adjusting the leg ties of his generic dark green shinobi clothes to keep them from being too loose.

"I know," Naruto mumbled before he turned around so he could see the back of the black and orange jumpsuit. "It doesn't have the whirlpool design _anywhere_." But, that was to be expected since he wasn't in the Fire Country, or Grass…or Rain. _Just how many countries did my relatives in up in anyway_?_ "_Ah well, I'll just get a new one when we get back to the Leaf."

"That's not what I meant," Sasuke deadpanned. "What kind of ninja runs around in orange? I always thought you dressed that way because you were stupid and poor. Orange isn't what you'd consider stealthy." As if to back up his point, Sasuke was dressed in the 'tradition' ninja attire of a long-sleeved jacket over netting and long pants.

Beside the boys, Sakura finished tying the straps for the armguards on her own tradition ninja outfit, then glared at Sasuke. "Would it kill you to be a little less rude?"

"Probably."

After he finished checking himself out in the substitute mirror, Naruto spun around and crossed his arms. "Feh, only amateurs need clothes to help them blend in," Naruto told him, as if quoting someone. "Besides, the crap you wore after meeting Orochimaru wasn't all that inconspicuous either."

Sasuke frowned at the blonde. "By then people needed to worry about hiding from _me_. Not the other way around."

Before he could come up with a good putdown, Naruto felt the security they had outrun when they nabbed the clothing was catching up. He let out a sigh, then dropped his arms.

"HEY YOU BRATS! STOP RIGHT THERE!"

Naruto turned to the entrance of the alley they had stopped in to get dressed. He spotted four ninja with waterfall headbands armed with kunai. Judging from what he could tell by their chakra, they were probably chunin…or just really old genin working security for the town. "Hey look Sasuke, they brought us weapons."

One of the ninja security team grit his teeth. "We didn't bring you weapons!"

"We're still in the Wind Country, right?" Sasuke asked as he noticed something odd. "Why are Waterfall ninja guarding this town?"

"Maybe it's cheaper?" Sakura theorized.

A thought crossed Sasuke's mind as he his a smirk. "Or there all a bunch of losers that Waterfall wanted to just get out of town…like you Naruto."

Naruto frowned and looked over to the other young man. "So you're picking a fight with me _now_?" On the edge of his senses, he could feel the rest of the town's shinobi moralizing. From what he could tell, there were about twenty six in all.

Sasuke cocked his head in a halfhearted shrug. "It's more interesting than these nameless idiots," he admitted.

"WE DO TOO HAVE NAMES!" the lead Waterfall ninja shouted. "I am the great-urk!"

"NOBODY CARES!" Naruto shouted after the man finished rolling back along the alleyway. He spun with a kick to one of the other ninja's midsection and took out the other two with a couple of quick blows to their jaw before they could react.

As the last of the ninja in the alleyway fell, Naruto spun around to face Sasuke and Sakura right before the rest of the town's guards could show up. "Hey, you going to give me a hand here?"

Sasuke let out a bored sigh, then looked up as two shinobi jumped off the rooftop above and came down strait towards him. "I suppose," he mumbled before activating his Sharingan.

"Oh right! don't kill anyone!" Naruto reminded him. "It'll cause a parot-tox…or something…I think."

Sakura sighed and rubbed her temple. "It's called a _paradox_ Naruto."

"Tch. Idiot, that's only in the movies!"

Less than a minute later…

Naruto kicked the lead ninja in the head to knock him out completely, then dug through the guy's bag to take any shuriken or kunai he was packing; weapon scrolls were left behind since he had no idea what would come out when he activated them. Sure there was the symbol for kunai paintedo n it, but everyone had their own styles and sizes.

Once he had a full set of ninja tools, along with a pouch to carry them in, Naruto picked himself up and stretched. "Was it just me, or did those guys kinda suck?"

"You all did," Sasuke grumbled as he picked up a sword from one of the few ninja that had been carrying one, then hit the side of the blade to test its durability. When it snapped in two, he tossed the broken weapon aside.

Naruto pressed his lips together tightly and let out an angry groan as he frowned at Sasuke, but didn't take the bait. "You know what I mean."

"They're trading town guards, what did you expect?" Sasuke replied before testing the last of the swords the ninja had been carrying, that also proved too fragile for his tastes.

The question made Naruto shrug.

"I dunno," Sakura cut in. "Guys like this probably wouldn't have even got past a chunin exam." When Sasuke jumped onto the roof, she quickly followed. "Hey, we are gonna make it back in time for that, right?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You saw the date on the newspaper." If he remembered correctly, they had a little under a month before it started. _She can't seriously think I'm going to sign up for that_.

Now that he had some time to think about things, Sasuke knew what his next move was: to fake his younger self's death. Itachi would come running to check it out, and Sasuke could move from there.

-Elsewhere-

"You've stopped bleeding then?"

The sound of Kisame's voice cutting through the darkness took him by surprise. Itachi reached up in the direction it had come from, and took what felt like a cup of tea. "It wasn't hard."

He could almost see Kisame's smirk when the man spoke again. "So you're a medical ninja now?"

"I know enough to patch basic wounds," Itachi lied with an even tone as he reached up to check the bandages where his eyes had been to make sure they were still secure. Performing medical ninjutsu on yourself was hard enough, doing it while in extreme pain and without the ability to see even harder.

The bench he was sitting on moved with a loud thunk when Kisame sat down on it. "I knew your eyes were going out…but I didn't think they'd just up and melt on you."

_No, this wasn't the work of wear and tare_, Itachi thought to himself. One moment his eyes were there, and the next…nothing. "Don't worry, I've had a long time to prepare for something like this," Itachi assured him falsely.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kisame asked. "Even if you've trained… A blind Uchiha…seems kind of stupid if you ask me."

Itachi smirked at the comment. "That's why there are spares lying around. We'll need to head to base thirty-seven. Lives weren't the only thing I took from the Leaf the night I killed my family."

The bench moved again as Kisame stood up. "Alright, I'll go get our stuff together for the journey. All things considered, we should probably make this trip incognito."

"I'd offer to help but…something tells me none of the outfits I pick would go with my shoes," Itachi replied with a smirk. As soon as he was sure Kisame was gone, Itachi turned his ears to face the cave wall. "So how long have you been there Zetsu?"

"**Oh my, did loosing those eyes of yours make you more…perceptive**?" the black voice asked.

Itachi shook his head, then rested his elbows on his knees and put his hands together as if he was considering something before bending over to use the pose to hide his mouth. "No, but I guessed you would be here at some point, all things considered. Have you already reported this…problem to Madara?"

"He'll be waiting at the hideout, I'm here to tell you about another development," the white Zetsu said.

"**As per your arrangement with Madara**_**, **_**I am here to tell you about an incident earlier today involving your brother**," the black told him.

Underneath his hands, Itachi couldn't suppress a small twitch of his mouth. "Get on with it then," he mumbled.

"He finally managed to turn on his stupid eyes, but that's not the important part," the white began.

"**During their return trip**. **Both your brother and the Nine-Tails container were swept up in what we can guess to be a space-time ninjutsu**," the black concluded.

Itachi almost frowned, but the pain from moving the muscles around where his eyes had been stopped him with a flash of pain. His eyes and Sasuke vanishing along with Naruto in the same day, it wasn't a coincidence. "This happened about three hours ago…didn't it?" he asked.

"Yep," the white one said.

"**However, whatever jutsu was used to transport the two of them…and your eyes it would seem, did not effect the Nine-Tails**."

The baited words annoyed Itachi, but he took them anyway. "What do you mean it didn't effect the Nine-Tails?" What he really wanted to do was ask about his brother, but if Itachi's eyes _and_ Sasuke had been swept up in a transportation technique along with Naruto…he could guess what someone meant to happen.

"**The beast reformed on the spot, Madara has gone to capture it himself**," Black Zetsu explained. ""**It will be awaiting for the sealing jutsu at the base by the time you arrive**."

-The Hokage's Office 3 Days Later-

"After the Nine-Tails left, I dug my way out and summoned my tracking hounds to reconnoiter the area on a spiral and cross search pattern for the Nine-Tails, and anyone looking for it. If they haven't come back yet, then they're still out searching. That's everything sir," Kakashi said as he finished giving his mission report.

On the other side of the Hokage's office, Sarutobi took out his pipe and exhaled a long stream of smoke. Now he understood why Kakashi had insisted upon doing this in the Hokage's office. Zabuza was troubling enough…but the Team genin _missing_? The fox now running around free?

It was disastrous. _Beyond_ disastrous. With the Nine-Tails roaming around, the Land of Fire was in danger in more ways than one. If one of the other nations made a play for the beast and succeeded, it would go a long way in tipping the precious balance of power that had made the current peace last as long as it had so far.

Then, there was the other disturbing fact…

"I take it that you will want to assign me to the Nine-Tails…what are we calling it anyway? A retrieval team? We don't have a container capable of trapping a tailed beast like some of the other villages. I can head out at once if need be."

Sarutobi held up his hands. "That's just it, your report is the first I've heard about such a thing."

Shock kept Kakashi silent for a moment, then recovered his voice, if not his composure. "WHAT? It…sir, it's the Nine-Tails! It was freed three _days_ ago. The damn thing would have wrecked a quarter of the Fire Country by now! Are you telling me you haven't received a _single_ report on its activities?"

"I trust you know what this probably means, correct?" Sarutobi asked.

"Someone planned this," Kakashi theorized. "But who? Do you think Cloud would make another play for the beast?" Kakashi wouldn't put it past them. In the past they had tried to take the creature during Kushina's sealing ceremony in the Whirlpool Village; but Minato had put a stop to them back then.

The possibility made Sarutobi let out a tired sigh. "It's a possibility. But, what you describe with Naruto and Sasuke… You felt no danger or killing intent? Your Sharingan detected nothing afterwards?"

Kakashi shook his head. "Nothing. One moment they were there, and they faded away in the space of a second, leaving behind just their clothes and weapons. By the time Sakura called for me and I turned around, Sasuke and Naruto were already gone, and I only got the briefest glances of Sakura."

Kakashi took a moment to pause and let the man think. "Your orders sir?"

"Do you believe them to be alive?" the Hokage asked. Everyone knew what happened when a jinchuuriki lost its demon. Still, everyone _also _knew what happened to a demon who lost its host. If one had survived, Sarutobi wasn't willing to give up on Naruto just yet.

The question made him take a deep breath and sigh. "I have considered the possibility that they're dead, and after hearing what you told me involving a lack of reports concerning the Nine Tails, whatever jutsu was used…there's a possibility that it was meant to kill Naruto in a way that allowed the Nine-Tails to avoid being scattered and needing three years to put itself back together. But if that were the case, it wouldn't explain the other two disappearing.

"There's also the timing to consider," Kakashi continued. "They vanished the same day Sasuke activated his Sharingan. Considering the connection between it and the Nine-Tails…it makes more sense that whatever jutsu was used was meant to kidnap Naruto and Sasuke, and it did _just _that, but left the Nine Tails behind. Although if that were the case, I suppose the beast wouldn't have just disappeared, and Sakura wouldn't have been caught up in it."

"I'll send out teams of ANBU to where you said the fox emerged as well as notify our other black ops teams operating near the other villages to see if they can pick up any unusual activity," Sarutobi assured him.

"As for the children…put together a pair of squads with tracking skills and recall your hounds to see if they managed to find anything. After that, I'll leave any decisions of pursuit or continuing the search to you. You are dismissed."

Once Kakashi had closed the door behind him, Sarutobi put his pipe back in his mouth and chewed on the thing in frustration. Team 7 gone, and the fox released…the more the thought about it, the more he didn't like where his ideas of what it all meant were heading.

There was the possibility of Cloud of course, Sarutobi wouldn't put it past them. Although they had backed off from the usual trouble they caused after a few run-ins with Minato, with the Fourth Hokage gone, it was very likely the Raikage was once again engaging in his old tactic of abducting children and ignoring treaties. _I hope that's all it is though_.

The other options were worse.

There was also Danzo to consider. Sarutobi's old friend had protested the other man being given the position of Hokage after he found out that Sarutobi had very different ideas for the Leaf's future than what Danzo envisioned. When the Fourth died, he had tried to slither his way into the position of Fifth Hokage, and in truth Sarutobi had barely managed to wretch the position away from him that time.

It hadn't come without cost of course. What had once been a position of unquestionable power became harder to hold onto than a slippery eel. Any slip, any showing of weakness, and the title of Hokage would pass to another.

Meanwhile, although he hadn't gained the post of Hokage, Danzo _had_ gained a great deal of power over the village. Root and the Uchiha Massacre had driven that fact home for Sarutobi. _And then there were the bodies_, Sarutobi reminded himself as he discovered his old friend's true self that night. It was very possible that Danzo had ANBU watching Naruto and when they reported the demon's chakra had gotten out, he could have very well of taken Naruto for the safety of the village…or to make the boy a weapon.

Then there was the third possibility…that the man behind the plot was an enemy still hiding in the shadows. If that was the case, there was no real preparations or counter-moves that Sarutobi could make.

More than likely if he _did_ move, his actions would come into question, and Danzo would attempt to take the position of Hokage, using the excuse that Sarutobi was too inept for the job as he wasted manpower. If Sarutobi explained himself, then it would give the council the full go-ahead to make as many paranoid restrictions and moves in the name of security as possible.

_Please let this be just Cloud trying to stab us in the back again_, Sarutobi begged whatever force was listening. Them he could deal with.

-Outside The Hokage's Tower-

Once he left the tower, Kakashi moved off the beaten path and raised his hand to motion to the ANBU squad that had been following him since he left the Hokage's office.

Four masked men appeared behind him, and motioned to each one in turn as he gave orders. "Go to the Inuzuka Clan and get their two best trackers. You, I want the head of the Aburame Clan and another bug handler that specializes in searching large areas brought here at once. Find the second and third best sensors in the village and bring them here now, _don't_ get Fu from the Yamanaka Clan." Kakashi knew the man had ties to Root, if he wasn't an outright member of the organization. "You and I will go to the Hyuga's main household. Once the rest of you have your volunteers, meet us there."

Kakashi knew it was a bit of a risk making a whole squad of tracking-related shinobi. Finding his kids was one thing, bringing them back was another. Still, Shibi was no stranger to combat, and if Kakashi could get a main branch member of the Hyuga to come along, the three of them could deal with any real threats short of a Kage.

Ten minutes later, Kakashi looked over the assembled mix of jonin, chunin, and the single young genin that looked pretty out of place. Although Hiashi looked a little uncomfortable at being there as well, it was more due to the person who forced him into it in the first place rather than the mission itself that was causing the disturbance.

But that wasn't really a problem. What needed to be dealt with was the genin that had been included on this mission.

He motioned the boy's mother over, and bent down to whisper in her ear. "Tsume, I think there's been some sort of misunderstanding. I wanted your best trackers…what's Kiba doing here?"

The rough woman gave Kakashi a scowl, then looked back to Kiba for a moment before turning back and getting in close to whisper to the masked man. "That's because he _is_ one of our best trackers. Look, don't tell him because his ego is bad enough already, but Kiba's nose is potentially the most sensitive my family has seen in generations. In about two years, it won't be Akamaru that's following scents."

After giving the boy a look, then turned his attention back to the mother. "This is an A-Rank mission, and potentially it could go up to an S. Send your son home, and get me someone else."

"Shit," she grumbled. "Next time you might want to put that on the invitations your handing out via ANBU."

With all the looks he was getting from his mother and the guy he'd seen leading Naruto's team around a few times around town, Kiba finally got tired of just sitting on the sidelines and raised his hand. "Excuse me, uh…Kakashi?" Kiba asked, hoping he remembered the man's name correctly. "What's going on?"

Since it wasn't really a secret, Kakashi decided to go ahead and tell him. "Three days ago Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were transported to an unknown location by a jutsu I've never encountered. These two squads will meet up with my dog pack that has been scouring their last known location, and either assist in the search or partake in a retrieval mission."

If anything, the explanation only confused the boy. "But…" he said before looking to the setting sun in the west.

-Leaf Village Border-

Naruto's eye twitched as he looked in front of him at Sasuke's 'secret' entrance into Leaf Village territory. "This is how you snuck out of the village that one time?"

The river in front of him didn't _seem_ all that special. It was a little wider than the others going into the village, but other than that, there didn't seem to be anything big about it. It flowed into the village through a grate, and was one of several sources for the village's canals.

"It was more than once really…Itachi used to take me hunting every now and then," Sasuke told him. "The barrier that surrounds the village extends below ground and detects all movements in or out. But since the water is always moving, the barrier is always detecting something in these areas and its ignored. Just make sure your through the sensor dome before you come up for air or we'll get caught."

Sakura looked over to the wall around the village in the distance, then the river she was standing on the edge of, and finally back to Sasuke. "It _can't_ be that easy," she mumbled. "Shouldn't there be guards or something?"

The question had Sasuke frowning at the girl with pink hair. "And I suppose you also want the village to put out a big sign saying 'hole in defense enter here' while they're at it?" he asked. "It's not like they can move the rivers."

"Yes they can," Naruto told him. It would probably take some creative Earth and Water jutsu, but it _could_ be done.

Just to make sure there really wasn't anyone around, Naruto paused for a moment and held his breath while he drew in a bit of sage chakra. The feeling of the area around him opened up to him. He could feel the barrier in front of him, the leafs in the wind as they fell off the trees, the eleven chakra signatures coming towards him, the…_ah crap_. "You _sure_ we didn't trip any signal flares or something?"

"Yes," Sasuke grumbled in annoyance. When he saw Naruto looked back towards the village, he could guess what the blonde was worried about. "I thought you led us through all the patrols."

Naruto let his sage chakra run through him and turned back to Sasuke. "I did! There was no way anyone saw us. _You_ probably left a trail or something."

The accusation just made Sasuke more annoyed. "Don't be stupid. Now, who's coming?"

"No idea," Naruto told him.

"What?" Sasuke demanded.

"Hey, _you_ want to train with a bunch of frogs and be the radar guy?" Naruto asked. "I don't know who's coming because everyone's so different from four years from now. Now come on and hide."

After Naruto disappeared behind a tree, Sasuke leaped up into another tree's branches and waited for the patrol to come along, and Sakura rolled her eyes before diving into some bushes. Naruto closed his eyes to help him connect with the surrounding nature chakra as he tried to get a feel of the interceptors.

_Eleven signatures_, Naruto told himself. There was something different about two of them. _They're dogs…so that means nine shinobi. _The dogs probably meant it was a pair of tracking squads. But the numbers were off with the extra team member. He could see a squad moving out with one member down, but not with just one extra man.

So… Was it some extra large force sent to protect the village? A pair of retrieval squads with a surviving team member to lead them to a ninja's last known location?

"Not like it matters, they'll be here soon enough," Naruto mumbled before releasing his sage mode again and peeking out in the direction they were coming from.

A few minutes later, a trio of ninja landed in the clearing on the other side of the river without any dogs. Naruto wondered what had happened to the others, but on the better side of things, he did recognize the ninja in the lead.

"Hey Kakashi!" Naruto shouted before he slid out from behind his tree and waved his hand in greeting.

Still in his hiding place, Sasuke frowned at the action. _Idiot, why didn't you transform first_?

The friendly wave didn't have the effect Naruto was hoping for. Instead of putting Kakashi at ease, the man with the headband covering his eye turned from giving off a cautious vibe to one of outright anger, and revealed his Sharingan. "You picked the _wrong_ time to try this kind of crap with me!"

Confusion replaced joy on Naruto's face as the man in front of him was joined by several ninja that looked familiar. "Hey what's the deal?" Naruto asked.

"Where are my students," he demanded before lightning blazed in his hand. "Tell me, and I'll make your death as painless as a I can."

Naruto flinched at the threat, and the killing intent that was coming off the man in waves. "Hey wait, don't you have a super nose or something?" he asked before another ninja joined the group, one Naruto actually knew personally. "Hey Kiba, get your dog to tell Kakashi it's me!"

But Kiba stayed silent as Kakashi continued talking. "You may have copied his scent, but your transformation needs work. Your much too tall, your color scheme is off. And if you're going to try walking into a village, you might want to actually wear our symbol on your forehead."

After debating just staying hidden or going to out to help Naruto, Sakura crawled out from the bushes, then looked up to the tree. "Sasuke, get down there already!"

"Why? It's just Kakashi." Sasuke replied as he leaned back against the three's body. The wannabe Uchiha didn't even have his Mangekyo yet. "You two wanted me following you back and not doing anything. Wish granted."

Sakura sighed at the young man's refusal for help. "So now what?" she asked Naruto.

"I dunno, beat them up until they'll listen to reason?" he replied.

The definite Naruto response made Sakura slough. _Of course he'd think of something like that_. What was it with boy's a violence? It didn't solve _everything_!

Naruto gave Sakura a pensive frown and crossed his arms. "Well, I suppose you have a better idea?"

_Let's see, a way to make them listen to us about who we are without hurting anyone or getting hurt ourselves_, she thought. _Of course, it's so __**obvious**_. Sakura held up her hands. "We surrender."

-Akatsuki Base 37-

For once, Itachi didn't bother to hide the apprehension he was feeling. The masked man he could hear walking around in from of him knew more than enough about the fake rouge ninja that putting on airs was useless. They were enemies held together by an agreement and the opportunities it presented, nothing more.

To help reassure himself, Itachi reached up and touched the bandages over his right eye. "So, you captured the Nine-Tails I assume?"

"Yes," the man's deep voice replied in front of him. "After I implant your replacement eyes, we will begin the sealing procedure at the twenty-fifth hideout. Kisame is already headed there."

Itachi reached into his coat for a kunai. "Were you the one to cause this…disappearance?" he asked, not bothering to try and hide the contempt for Madara in his voice or intent.

"If I could remove the hosts at will and leave the beasts intact, what makes you think I would need the Akatsuki at all?" he countered.

Itachi knew that was a definite no; despite the lack of a forward response. He had been around the man long enough to read that much out of him.

The man with the bandages on his face heard the sound of stone sliding on stone as Madara slid one of the storage units that he kept a pair of Sharingan taken from some long dead Uchiha. He could almost _feel_ the other man's confusion, then frowned when he heard another coffer being opened.

"_What_?"

Itachi tensed at Madara's tone. "Something wrong?"

"The Sharingan, where are they?" Madara asked, more to himself than Itachi.

As for Itachi, he didn't answer, he didn't care. Instead, he reached up and cut the bandagers from the right side of his face and charged forward. He had been waiting for this for _years_.

A master of time-space Ninjutsu, Madara might as well of been invincible. He could slip through any attack, and counter in the unguarded moment that followed. So when Itachi had joined the Akatsuki, he had resolved himself to keep his eye on Madara and wait for that one, tiny, unguarded moment when Itachi had the chance to deliver a single fatal blow.

But the old Uchiha had never let down his guard…until now.

Itachi drove the kunai into the man's left kidney, and reached around to shatter Madara's mask with his free palm before clawing at the other man's eye to rip it out. As the man lay there on the ground, Itachi backed away. "You were careless."

Suddenly, Itachi felt the eye in his palm disappear, and the man in front of him stand up with an undamaged mask and the Sharingan Itachi had taken shinning through its eyehole. He could even make out the frown as Madara studied Itachi's face, and the Sharingan staring back at him. "That's not your Mangekyo…where did you get that eye."

The shock of the sudden reversal lasted only a moment. _He was able to use Izanagi with a damaged kidney_? The man should have been in so much pain he couldn't even scream, much less focus chakra! _Damnit, I underestimated him_.

"It was given to me by the man I admire most in this world," Itachi told Madara as he reached for the shuriken hidden up his sleeve while thanking his dead cousin. The vision was…perfect. It had been so long since Itachi had been able to see things clearly that it almost brought a tear to his eye.

Madara took a step forward. "Shisui. Well, with my one eye consumed by Izanagi and all my spares missing, I'm going to have to take that new eye of yours."

_Stay calm_, Itachi told himself. His opponent might be Madara Uchiha, but the old man was in the same boat as Itachi. "I could say the same," Itachi replied before he tossed his handful of shuriken and leapt back.

Surprisingly, the other Uchiha _didn't_ just let them pass through him. Instead, he adjusted his posture and turned so that all the throwing stars did was nick his coat.

"Your missing eye…it was what gave you your intangibility?" Itachi asked.

Madara chuckled. "So, I've been found out then."

_Don't believe him_, Itachi told himself. There was no reason to believe either of Madara's most common techniques relied on his eyes.

Still, the greatest danger to the world was right _there_, weakened and cornered. If Itachi could kill him…

_And Sasuke_? Itachi asked himself. The boy was _missing_. If anything happened to him…

There was no guarantee that he could get away if he ran.

There was no guarantee of victory if he stayed and fought.

"You know what the _real_ letdown is?" Madara asked as he tossed his cloak aside and advanced his eye to the second stage. "Even when I kill you, I'll _still_ need to get a complete set."

The unspoken half of the threat made Itachi's decision for him. He took up a fighting stance after removing the cumbersome clothing with its red cloud design. "Alright then. It'll be your Mangekyo Sharingan versus mine, and we'll see who comes out on top."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Homecoming

Itachi stood across from Madara with his kunai held up in a defensive stance as he tried to come up with a plan for fighting the man in front of him. Just because Madara had lost his evasion ability didn't make him a non-threat. His Space-Time Ninjutsu was still extremely deadly. If the masked man just grabbed Itachi or slowed him down long enough, it would all be over.

_Using Fire Style in this environment is a bad idea, and I don't have much in the way of fuel for Water Style either,_ Itachi told himself before reaching behind him to touch the pair of water canteens he carried to fuel some of the smaller Water Style jutsu he knew. While Itachi was skilled enough to create water to fuel his jutsu, that took an extreme amount of chakra.

_While on the other side, my opponent has Fire and Earth…and judging by some of the old paintings of the man, probably Wind as well_. The giant fan Madara had used to carry around must have served as a great amplifier for attacks over a large area.

So with long-range out, and his opponent having the advantage in terms of location for his jutsu, Itachi took the only option open to him. Despite the obvious risks of going for close range combat, he charged and attacked.

Itachi led with a thrust from his kunai that Madara dodged with a pivot that turned into a reverse spinning backhand, which Itachi ducked and countered with a leg sweep to push Madara back by making the man jump away to avoid the attack and not let Itachi take advantage of the opening being in the air created.

As soon as he landed, Itachi charged in and the battle continued. Of course, neither opponent was actually trying their hardest to _hit_ the other. They were both too skilled in the use of their Sharingan to try anything that foolish.

Itachi kept his head a little tilted and halfway turned to keep Madara in sight of his one eye, the other man did the same. As Madara adjusted his stance a bit, Itachi's eye saw the movements that could possibly come from his new position cleary. _One dozen, six moves to the left or right_, Itachi told himself as the multiple images in front of him showed where Madara was going to dodge. When he attacked with his kunai again, Itachi aimed for the right side of Madara's body and cut off half his escape routes before the other man dodged and countered with an attack that determined where Itachi went before he found himself forced back all around the room.

_Not good_, Itachi told himself before spinning around an open palm thrust that would have stunned him long enough for Madara to pull him into that empty dimension. Then he saw that his three options to counter attack would have been blocked, and stalled his movements long enough for Madara to get a hold on him. So, he jumped away to avoid the situation entirely.

They danced around the room, each one trying to put the other into a no-win scenario. Each one too close to pause and focus chakra without giving the other an opening, and with their Sharingan making Genjutsu useless against each other, the battle consisted solely of Taijutsu.

As the fighting dragged on, Itachi's momentum slowed, and he found himself defending more often than not. Despite his experience and knowledge when it came to facing Sharingan users, his memory reminded him that it was Madara who had shown Itachi how to become as good at it as he was.

_The situation is reversed now_, the younger Uchiha realized before another charge by Madara forced him back. Before, he had been the one going after the masked man to keep him from putting his Earth jutsu to use. Now, Itachi was the one on the defensive, and Madara wasn't even bothering with trying to use an Earth jutsu. On top of which, there was no way he could keep his surroundings in view with only one eye.

Despite the fact he knew what Madara was doing, there was no way to stop it.

Two minutes later, Itachi felt his heel touch one of the room's corners when he retreated. The images that showed Madara's attack patterns filled his vision, and the younger Uchiha grit his teeth. The left was cut off, as were any paths to the right and above.

It was with more than a bit of panic that he realized… _I'm out of moves._

-Leaf Village, Hyuga Compound-

The sound of the door slamming shut brought Hinata out of the place she had been hiding and to her father's attention. He looked at the worried face of his daughter for a moment, then gave her a stern glare. "What are you still doing up?"

"I-I heard the door, and was wondering why you came back so suddenly," she said in a whisper. "Did something happen?"

Hiashi studied the girl for a moment, letting his disappointment of her attitude and actions show on his face. Less than an hour ago, when news of the Leaf jinchuuriki had been captured came to his house along with a request for ninja to go looking for it, Hiashi had been more than a little impressed with his daughter's insistence that he should be the one to go look for the boy.

For one brief shining moment, Hinata had shown herself to be capable of standing up for herself, and to her own father of all people. He had even rewarded the action by giving into her demands…as odd as they were.

But now, she was back to her usual timid self. It was…_so_ _disappointing_.

Hinata had something inside of her that the clan needed in their next leader: compassion. Hiashi was hardly blind to the resentment that was quickly growing within the branch family over the positions of the houses. If things continued as they were, things would quickly spiral out of control until there was only one Hyuga household.

As things were, the girl was a failure. If she were to take over with the way she was now, the clan would quickly collapse when the older members of the main house brought down their antiquated demands of how things should be in their eyes on her, while the branch family would see her reluctance as a sign of weakness and try to take action.

Hiashi's only hope was to train her younger sister to be the next leader of the house, and hope that Hinata held enough influence over her as the elder sibling to help change things for the better.

Finally, Hiashi reached forward to place his hand on his daughter's shoulder, and turn her back to the house. "There was a development, and the search has been delayed."

"Delayed?" she repeated. "What happened?"

"It's none of your concern," he told her.

"Father! I…please tell me," she asked, the heart of her first word dying under his gaze as she looked away.

_And there it is again_, Hiashi told himself. He managed to hide a smile, and then did as ordered, as much as he could without revealing too much information or letting onto his own confusion over the situation.

-Leaf Village Interrogation Room #1-

There were days when Ibiki Morino really hated his job.

It wasn't the interrogations. The torture, the blood, the screaming, the lies and the begging didn't really bother him all that much. It was the tough ones, the ones that no amount of torture would effect, that no Genjutsu could fool.

That was the _real_ problem of interrogating ninja. A skilled chakra user who knew Genjutsu could place himself in a trance to feel no pain, and simply wait it out until rescue, a prisoner exchange, or for the shinobi who had him to just give up and kill the man. It was under such circumstances that Ibiki was called into the interrogation.

He had to deal with the guys they needed to talk, but were immune to the more brutal methods.

Since the blows inflicted on the man faking Naruto Uzumaki's identity hadn't changed him back to his normal self, e was obviously an expert in chakra control. A man like him wouldn't be effected by the standard methods. Genjutsu would only be a waste of time when it came to someone like that.

He looked over to Kakashi as they stood outside the interrogation room, then glanced through the one-way mirror. "So, you want in? I've read Uzumaki's profile, but you _are_ the boy's teacher. Unless you want one of the other two."

Kakashi crossed his arms as he thought it over. With the appearance of the intruders, the pursuit team was put on hold. Considering that the Leaf had only just _now_ discovered Team Seven was missing, three look-alikes -and bad ones at that- just showing up was far too suspicious.

"No, this one will do," Kakashi replied. "And this isn't Naruto, remember?"

They entered the room where the infiltrator who was seemingly a boy had been tied to his interrogation chair. He actually brightened up when the copy ninja walked around the room and he caught sight of Kakashi. "Hey Kakashi-sensei!" Then he looked at the other man and frowned. "Hey Ibuki."

The interrogator grit his teeth. "It's Ibiki!"

'Naruto' blinked a few times. "Oh right, sorry about that. So, you guys here to let me out?"

"Don't be stupid," Kakashi told him. "This will be a lot easier on you if you tell us what we want to know. Let's start with your identity. Who are you really?"

The kid in the orange and black jumpsuit sighed. "I told you, I'm Naruto! Just Sharingan me into telling the truth, and it'll prove who I am."

Then Ibiki stepped up to impose his presence on the spy. "We're not that foolish. We know you're an expert in controlling your chakra. It would be simple for you to fake a relaxed flow of chakra that comes from falling under such a jutsu!"

Naruto jaw went slack at the accusation, and he looked over to Kakashi. "You can't be serious."

-Meanwhile in Interrogation Room #2-

"Look, just get Ino's dad in here, and he can brain scan me," Sakura told her sole interrogator as he stood there looking at her, studying the pink-haired ninja. At least they hadn't started with the physical torture part of the interrogation yet. But the part where they just sat there staring at her made the girl want to beat her own head against the desk in front of her from the growing dread of what they _were_ going to do.

The young man with the Leaf forehead protector attached to a bandanna that covered most of his orange hair let out a laugh. Then, the interrogator slammed his fist down on the interrogation room's table. "HA! That's just what you want us to do, isn't it? Then you can use your weird brain seal to steal his soul!"

Sakura cocked an eyebrow at the chunin. _Are you kidding me_? She sighed, and tried to control her building anger…unsuccessfully. "It's a chakra storage seal you idiot! You know Tsunade? Go ask _any_ or seal expert in the village and they can verify it for me. Hell, a medical ninja could probably do it too."

"HA! That just means you've disguised it as a chakra storage seal!" the idiot replied, thrusting his finger right at the tip of Sakura's nose. "I'm not foolish enough to fall for such a simple trick!

The girl with the pink hair groaned and looked at the mirror in the room. She knew there had to be at least one other person watching what was happening inside. "Hey, can one of you guys bring someone skilled in torturer please? I think it'll be less painful than this idiot."

Then the idiot crossed his arms. "HA! That just means-"

_There's no way Naruto's having this hard a time_, Sakura told herself while the idiot prattled on.

-Room 1-

"I'm telling you, I'm from the future," Naruto explained for what seemed like the millionth time. "We used this freaky Sharingan jutsu to go back in time, me Sakura, and Sasuke. Just go and get the mini-me, and I can prove it!"

Kakashi didn't seem convinced. "The what?"

Naruto frowned in annoyance. "You know, the younger version of me. Go get him and I can prove I'm me…or him" Then he sighed and shook his head. "Man, this is going to get confusing real fast."

If anything, the mention of his younger self only seemed to make Kakashi even angrier. "Stop trying to feed us that line already," the man told him. "The genin of Team Seven disappeared three days before you arrived."

The unexpected response brought Naruto's thinking to a halt. "Uh…say what?"

"Don't play dumb," Ibiki told him. "Three days ago, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno all mysteriously vanished while on their way back for the Land of Waves."

"Three days ago?" Naruto asked a little nervously. So that meant…what? He was dead now? Only…he wasn't dead since he was here. But if the old Naruto wasn't -_wait, I'm the old Naruto…well not the __**old**__ Naruto, but the old__**er**__Naruto, and the young me is missing. But if the younger me is missing, then I can't be here, because I'm him…sort of…_

Naruto let out a groan as the line of thought quickly gave him a headache. He looked up at the ceiling for a moment and tried to think of how he was going to get out of this so he could figure out just the hell was going on with his younger self. "Ooooh, oh I know. Ask me something only I'd know! Or that Naruto would know…cause, you know, I'm him…dattebayo."

When Ibiki looked over at Kakashi, the other man just rolled his one visible eye. "Anyone who's studied Naruto's speech patterns would say something like that," he said. "And since we know you're involved in Team Seven's disappearance, you could have easily tortured such information out of them ahead of time."

"Well, I suppose you have something there," Naruto mumbled as he tried to think of something else that would convince Kakashi he was who he said he was. After he spotted his reflection in the mirror, Naruto looked back at the masked man. "Okay, then how about something I didn't know back…well, not _now_, but I _would_ learn in the future!" _Damn time travel…it wrecks havoc with the tenses_.

"Which _is_?" Kakashi prompted.

Naruto sat up in his chair as strait as he could and prepared to bask in the moment. "I'm the Fourth Hokage's son!"

For his part, Kakashi didn't seem all that impressed. "What kind of proof is that? _Everyone_ knows Naruto is the Fourth Hokage's son! _He_ knows he's the Fourth Hokage's son. Any idiot with half a brain could figure _that much _out by seeing a picture of the two of them!"

Naruto's shoulders slumped at the indirect insult to his intelligence. "That hurts Kakashi-sensei." Although, now that he knew about it, the family resemblance _did_ make it pretty obvious and had him wondering why he hadn't seen it before.

Whenever he'd asked the Third Hokage about it, the old man had simply said that his parents had died fighting the fox, and they were heroes of the village. It wasn't really an outright lie per say, but not knowing who his father had been brought Naruto many sleepless nights wondering about his parents.

"Don't call me that," Kakashi told Naruto while waves of anger rolled off the man.

After flinching at the copy ninja's response, Naruto looked over to the other man in the room. "Oh, oh I know! You, Ibuka-"

"Ibiki!"

"-whatever, you were the guy who gave us that written test during the Chunin Exam!" Naruto exclaimed.

But when he was done, the proof he was giving seemed a little foolish. There had been a ton of people from multiple countries at that exam. It wasn't as if Naruto was the only one who knew he was there. _Hardly the kind of proof that's gonna get me out of here_, Naruto surmised.

So…what _could_ he tell Kakashi to prove his identity? He didn't know much about the man personally. In fact, it always seemed like enemy ninja had more of that kind of information than his own students. Naruto figured that even if he did know some big secret about Kakashi, there was a pretty good chance that other people would as well.

Kakashi bent down and tipped Naruto's chair back while looking him in the eye. "For you information. Naruto has never taken the Chinin Exam, and Ibiki hasn't been a proctor for-"

"Uh, Kakashi, could I see you outside for a moment?" Ibiki asked.

The odd change in the normally stoic man's demeanor had Kakashi curious, so he nodded to Morino's request and left the room. Once they were in the hallway, he started to close the door and turned to the other man. "What is-" but the appearance of an old man in white robes behind led by another one of the interrogation squad cut him off "Lord Hokage!"

"Quickly Lord Hokage, you must here what the Uchiha impersonator has to say!"

From his place inside the interrogation room, Naruto blinked when the guy in the gray suit that he didn't recognize ran by. The man felt…_wrong_ somehow to Naruto's senses that had awakened after his tailed-beast training.

Apparently Kakashi felt it too, because he reached out and grabbed the guy by the shoulder. "That chakra…you're under a Genjutsu."

"Now Kakashi, if one of our prisoners wants to go to such trouble to meet with me, who am I to refuse such a request?" the old man asked with a smile on his face that Naruto could almost _hear_.

The thought of the old man and Sasuke in the same room made Naruto wince. If they got together… Well, Sasuke has _said_ he'd leave the Leaf alone, but Naruto didn't know how well that promise would hold if the old Hokage and him came face to face.

Naruto looked down at the seals on his hands and feet that interfered with his chakra flow, unsure of how do deal with them. Whenever something like this usually happened, he'd been able to muster up enough of Kurama's chakra to take care of business and the interference was eventually taken care of. Now, he wasn't sure what, if anything, he could do to get rid of them.

But, the door was still open, so…

"Hey old man!" Naruto shouted.

Then, there was what sounded a lot like an explosion from further down the hallway, and Naruto could hear Sakura's voice coming from outside his door. "WOULD YOU SHUT UP WITH THAT STUPID CATCH PHRASE ALREADY!"

"H-How are you using chakra? You're supposed to be sealed!" a man that sounded a little older than Naruto shouted in fear.

"Oh please, I got rid of those things about five minutes after you put them on!"

"I-Lord Hokage! HA! You're in trouble now-OW!"

"I SAID STOP THAT!" Sakura shouted before Naruto heard a body, which was probably the one belonging to the unknown voice, drop to the ground. The sound of a pair of hands clapping together once reached Naruto's ears before Sakura spoke again. "Lord Hokage, would you _please_ get Ino's dad down here so I can prove I'm who I say I am?"

Ibiki cleared his throat. "Yes…about that…"

-Hokage's Office, One Hour Later-

Standing in the back corner of the Hokage's office, Kakashi was feeling a bit overwhelmed. His students -and they _were_ his students, that much had been proven multiple times once he had spoken to Sasuke and Sakura- finished debriefing the Hokage on how they had managed to transport themselves while he puffed on his pipe while he listend in with more than a bit of interest.

"So, you used this…inversed Izanami to travel back in time and a multi-layered seal to not only move through time, but take passengers as well," The Hokage surmised. "I must admit, if you were telling this to anyone else, it would just be taken as a fancy story."

Sasuke's perpetual scowl deepened. "And what makes you believe us then?"

"Because it's _you_ telling _me_," the Hokage explained to the boy. "I heard from my predecessors that Madara Uchiha could actually use his Sharingan to reverse the flow of time in a similar manner. It was one of the things that made him nearly invincible in combat. Now that I see you grown, I can't help but notice the striking similarities between the two of you. It's almost as if you are the second coming of that man. Not surprising considering the blood relation."

Sakura blinked, then turned to look at Sasuke. "Hey, now that you mention it. If Sasuke's hair was a bit longer in the front, and a lot longer in the back…maybe get rid of some of his bangs in the front…"

"Yeah, I think I see it too," Naruto agreed as he studied the other member of Team Seven, much to the annoyance of Sasuke.

In the background, Kakashi had to pinch the bridge of his nose. _Three years, and it doesn't look like any of them have changed a bit since I first saw them_.

Then the old man looked over to Sakura. "And that seal…that's Tsunade's technique, isn't it?"

The attention made Sakura blush and scratch the back of her head. "Well, yes. But I can't use it for healing like she does. To be honest, I don't think I want to considering the side effects. But, it's good to have extra chakra laying around when I need it."

"Oh hey," Naruto spoke up. He pointed an accusing finger at the Hokage. "Why the hell didn't you ever tell me that the Fourth Hokage was my dad?"

While the statement did bring a frown to everyone's faces, Kakashi could tell that he and the Hokage's reasons were different from Sakura and Sasuke's. _So I guess Naruto didn't know about his father after all…but, from the way he's speaking…_

"How could you _not _know?" Sakura demanded.

"Because no one told me," Naruto grumbled before he blinked and looked over to Sakura and Sasuke. "Wait, you guys actually knew?"

"Moron, how many people in the Leaf have you actually seen with blonde hair and blue eyes? The hairstyle alone is enough of a clue, and everyone in the village sees that much at least once a day."

To keep everything on track, the Hokage cleared his throat. "Yes well…with everything going on. I think I will need a full debriefing tomorrow over your…future intelligence? I guess that is the best way to put it. Something tells me I'd better bring some medicine for all the headaches this is going to give me. However, at the moment we have a more pressing matter to attend to."

For some reason, all three of the shinobi became a little uneasy. "Right…the future stuff," Naruto replied.

"About that," Sakura mumbled as she glanced over to Sasuke for a moment, then looked back to the Hokage. "Wait, what do you mean _more_ pressing?"

"Considering the fact that the your three younger selves disappeared…I take it that Naruto no longer has the Nine-Tails inside of him?" Sarutobi asked.

That got its own reaction from each of them as well. Naruto flinched, then looked over to Sasuke with trepidation for some reason Kakashi couldn't understand. Sakura just gasped in shock, while Sasuke crossed his arms and looked down at the floor; probably thinking.

Sakura was the one to break the silence with a groan, and then a smack to her forehead. "Oh, of course it wouldn't have been brought back with us. It's a separate entity, and we didn't include its blood in the design of the connection seal."

"Not only that, but the creature has already reformed," Kakashi told them. "I saw it myself."

"Crap! We gotta go and put him back in me!" Naruto shouted. He even looked panicked about the Nine-Tails running around, despite the fact that it freed Naruto from the burden of being a jinchuuriki.

Breaking the silence _that_ particular statement brought on, Sasuke spoke up. "Let me guess, the beast is already either sealed away in Konoha, or missing?"

The Hokage sighed, then nodded. "The second. I take it you have an idea as to what happened?"

"What?" Naruto whispered in a voice that actually sounded of concern.

Sakura gulped and looked to Sasuke and Naruto. "You guys don't think-"

"Zetsu's sensor range is practically infinite when he wants it to be. He wouldn't even need to try to find a free tailed beast," Sasuke told her. "And if Tobi was the one to go after it, there wouldn't have even been a fight."

Naruto clenched his fist at the mention of the odd name. "That guy wouldn't have needed to even go looking either."

Behind his desk, the Hokage's face went from his usual calm demeanor to a serious expression Kakashi barely saw anymore these days. He took his pipe from his mouth, and set it aside. "Alright, I think that this is something that can't wait. So, would you mind letting the rest of us in on this conversation?"

After they all shared a guarded look, Sasuke was the one to respond to the question. "There's an organization called the Akatsuki that is after the tailed beasts. It's membership is composed primarily of ten S-Class ninja, and several minor members that serve as intelligence gatherers. To give you an idea of the level of ninja that compose their ranks, Orochimaru was once a member…and my brother Itachi is currently planted inside the group's higher ranks."

Sakura immediately stepped in front of Sasuke and took over the conversation. "There's also Kisami Hoshigake, and Sasori of the Sand Village. We have information on all of their members, including techniques and fighting styles, but…those are probably the only ones anyone from here would recognize. We can prepare a full report for you during tomorrow's debriefing."

"The guy running everything…well, there's two guys running it…sort of," Naruto explained, rather poorly.

_Oh boy_, Kakashi told himself as Naruto paused in his explanation…or whatever it was coming from his mouth. Whenever that boy talked about stuff, it was usually more confusing than enlightening.

"See, there's this guy called Pain, who everyone in the group _thinks_ is running the Akatsuki…well, except maybe Itachi, and I think Orochimaru knew what was really going on too," Naruto said before he paused again. "_Does_ know what's going on…" he looked over to the rest of Team Seven. "How are you guys _not_ tripping over your tenses? My head's gonna explode if I have to say too many."

Kakashi sighed. "Just tell us what's important Naruto."

"Well, the guy who's really running things, _that's _Tobi…he was behind the Nine-Tails attack on the village sixteen, or its thirteen now I guess" Naruto said, correcting himself at the end. "Yeah, thirteen years ago."

"_What_?" the Hokage yelled in surprise. Kakashi also found his composure shaken. He had thought the Nine-Tails attack had been an accident. That something had happened to Kushina during her pregnancy and it escaped.

"He fought my dad and…well my dad chased him off, but not before he got to Mom and let the fox out," Naruto explained.

Sarutobi held up a hand to keep the boy from continuing. "Start at the beginning."

Naruto stopped and ran a hand through his hair. "Oh boy…that's gonna make things pretty long," he mumbled to himself. He took a deep breath, and started slowly. "Okay well, there's this guy walking around named Tobi; although, that's not his real name either, just an alias. He's this guy in a mask that _really_ hates the village. Back when I was born, he snuck through the barrier and killed everyone there except Dad, and used me as a hostage to get my father away from Mom when her seal was weakened so he could get the fox. Then he teleported into the middle of the village and summoned the nine-tails, but when my dad showed up to fight it, Tobi chased him out of the village. By the time Dad made the guy retreat, well…giant frog, Mom's freaky body chains…you know the rest."

The Hokage sighed, and nodded his head. "I see. I think that's enough for the moment Naruto," he told the boy before addressing all of them. "Draft up a full report on this organization, as well as the major events that you experienced tomorrow. I'll postpone the debriefing until the day after tomorrow." The man looked own at his desk and let out another sigh.

"It would seem the future isn't as bright as I was hoping it would be."

"But there's no time for that!" Naruto exclaimed.

When the Hokage looked back up at him, Naruto stuck his fist into an open palm. "We have to go rescue Kurama!"

"Excuse me?" the old man asked in confusion.

Sakura was the one to answer the question. "Well it's…sort of the fox's name," she explained hesitantly. "And Naruto's right. If the Akatsuki have the Nine -Tails, we need to move before they seal it away. I think we have about three days to do it."

"Their sealing method takes three days?" Kakashi asked. He knew the sealing of a tailed beast shouldn't normally take anywhere near that long. Did that make their seals special somehow? _Is it some new jutsu that doesn't just seal away the beast, but lets the user gain control over it_?

"They're not trying to turn themselves into jinchuuriki," Naruto explained. "The method they use, it takes the tailed beast's chakra and combines it."

The half-answer didn't seem to satisfy the Hokage. "Combines it with what?"

"Other captured tailed-beasts," Naruto answered. "These guys are trying to combine all the tailed beasts and create the ultimate jinchuuriki. And that's why we can't just stand around. We have to send out search parties right away!"

Sasuke was the one to shatter his hopes. "And how exactly are we going to do that?" he asked. "None of us know where the Akatsuki are hiding."

"_You_ do!" Naruto shouted as he pointed an accusing finger at Sasuke.

"I know about two hideouts," the Uchiha replied. "One's little more than a cave, and the other is just an overblown storage area with a fancy table. Neither is meant to hold a tailed beast."

"And the one we found is closer to the Wind Country than Fire, so they're probably not there either." Sakura added. She crossed her arms and frowned. "And think about it for a second Naruto. Even if we did manage to find them, there's a question of just how many of them would _be_ there. Every time we went up against one of these guys in the past, the numbers were well in our favor. Not to mention more than one of the Akatsuki lost their fights on purpose, or just gave up halfway through."

The Hokage cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "I see. I'll send out ANBU sensor units to search the Land of Fire's border countries to see if anything can be found," he told them before reaching down to clean his pipe.

"It seems we've gotten a bit off track from what I had originally intended to ask you all about," the man continued. "Now, just why was it that you used such a jutsu? Although I take it this…Akatsuki had something to do with it."

Sakura broke away from his gaze and looked at an empty corner of a room what scratching her arm. "Well…yes. The five nations tried working together to stop them. The Fifth Hokage joined with the others and we made this huge army of mixed units to track them down. I think that's where we went wrong," she told him.

After taking a moment to let that much sink in, Sakura resumed her explanation. "The Akatsuki attacked right when we had gathered our forces and the Kazkage made his speech. They have a jutsu that lets them create a…well, I'd guess you'd call it a _flesh_ clone. They're not that powerful, but against a massed target…they could just swarm over their opponents with endless numbers. Since they all had the ability to walk through the ground and hide their chakra from detection, it was easy for them to surround the army and come up from underneath us as well."

Naruto took up the last part of the explanation. "After the battle was over, me and Sakura got together with Sasuke, and we decided to use this jutsu that he'd…come up with. And…here we are."

Sarutobi nodded, although Kakashi had seen him become a little curious, if not disturbed, at the mention of the _Fifth _Hokage. "Something tells me if we keep this up, we'll be here all night," he mumbled to himself before addressing the others.

"Your…information is now a top S-Rank secret," the old man explained. "You are to speak of it to no one without my direct authorization."

Sakura looked at Naruto and Sasuke, then back to the old man. "Uh, don't you think people are gonna notice something's up with us walking around half a meter taller than we were yesterday? Not to mention all the other differences, like my hair." She ran her hand through the shoulder-length strands of pink to emphasize her point.

"If anyone asks, your explanation will be that the three of you were caught in a new kind of time-space Ninjutsu that ages the opponent several times faster than normal," the Hokage ordered. "Kakashi managed to disrupt it by triggering a transportation jutsu, sending you to an unknown location."

_And thus, explaining my frantic search_, Kakashi told himself. It wasn't a very believable lie. But, ninja were good at not asking questions when they weren't supposed to.

Then the Hokage gave each of them a level look. "Is there anything else I should be made aware of that can't wait?"

The three shared a look, with Naruto being indecisive, Sakura hesitant, and Sasuke back to his classic nonchalant; meaning that there probably _was_ something else to tell the man, but Naruto just looked at him and shook his head. "I suppose the rest can wait."

"Good. In that case, you are all dismissed…" The Hokage took a moment, then looked over to the Uchiha. "Oh, and Sasuke, would you stay for a moment longer? There is something I need to speak with you about, and it's better to take care of these things right away."

The nervousness coming from the pinket and blonde was palpable. Sakura was the one to speak first. "WHAAAAAT?" …with Naruto following right on top of her with a "ARE YOU CRAZY?" before he looked up at the shadows in the corner where the Hokage's two ANBU guards where hiding while Sasuke covered his face with his palm and let out a moan.

"Idiots."

"What?" the Hokage asked, confusion written all over his face. "What? I was simply going to have him sign the documentation needed for him to access the funds left to him by the Uchiha now that he's come of age."

Naruto blinked, and Sakura kept her mouth hanging open. "Uhhhhhh," was all she managed to get out.

Kakashi chuckled, then grabbed them both by the shoulders to lead them out the door. "Come along kids. We need to get going," he told them before moving the two… "By the way, what _are_ your ranks?"

Not that it mattered with the Hokage's cover story. They would all be placed as genin. The Chunin Exam would fix that in a few weeks. He knew they were ready for it after their performance in the Land of Waves, and with three years on top of that…

"Well, I made chunin my second try, but Naruto and Sasuke-"

Kakashi turned his attention back to the Hokage's office for a moment as the door started to close. "So, I take it-" the man's words cut off as the door closed.

Then Kakashi found himself giving Naruto an annoyed look as the blonde crouched near the door with his ear placed against it. "Naruto…what're you doing?"

"Listening in…" the teen explained as he moved to a higher location on the door. "How come I can't hear anything?"

Kakashi reached down to grab the boy's ear, and pulled while he yelped in protest. "Because the Hokage's office has seals that stop eavesdropping when we need it to." Although, Kakashi had to admit it was rather odd. With what the Hokage said…Kakashi doubted what they were talking about had much to do with the Uchiha's inheritance.

"But…" Naruto looked over to Sakura.

"So, what now Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Now we go home. Sakura, I'll meet with your parents to explain the situation…like the Hokage wants us to," Kakashi told her. When the girl tensed and looked away from the man, he blinked. "Something wrong?"

"Ugh…my parents…I forgot about them. Really not looking forward to this," she mumbled. "And I'm going to half to talk to Ino…and my _clothes_!"

Naruto got out of Kakashi's ear hold and looked over to Sakura. "Your clothes?"

The other girl stared back at the blonde disbelievingly. "Naruto…all we have is the clothes on our backs. We've outgrown everything else!"

"And?" he asked, obviously not seeing the point.

Sakura's mood darkened, and she glared down at the boy. "You did _not_ just imply that you're wearing that same outfit tomorrow too! We've been in these things for _three days_ _strait_! As soon as I get something else that fits, this thing's going in the incinerator. And you're coming shopping with me tomorrow!"

As Kakashi watched Sakura drag Naruto away, he didn't know what to think of all that had passed in the past few hours. The way Sakura had gotten out of her interrogation, the Genjutsu Sasuke had placed on his captors…even Naruto had shown an unexpected level of growth, unless Kakashi was just grasping at straws when he thought Naruto noticed the ANBU guards that is…

But watching Sakura and Naruto interact with such casualness, that was what he was truly proud of. Whereas before Sakura had barely tolerated Naruto, now she talked with him in a manner that spoke volumes of their familiarity. It was good to see that they managed to grow so close without the extra motivation that Kakashi had needed with his own team.

"Hey wait a second," Naruto mumbled then looked back to Kakashi. "Where's our headbands?"

The question caught Kakashi off guard. "Excuse me?"

"Our headbands," Naruto repeated before his tone took on a bit of fear. "You didn't just leave them laying around on the road, _did you_?"

When Naruto's accusation turned into more of a plea, Kakashi scratched the back of his head. "Well, I was in a bit of a hurry, so-"

"Sensei! That was the special forehead protector Iruka-sensei gave me!" Naruto yelled in despair. "Do you know how long I had that thing? I even replaced the cloth when it wore out! You mean you actually forgot something like that?"

Unsure of how to respond, Kakashi held up his hands in a mock surrender as he tried to calm the boy down. "Come on now Naruto. You can always get a new one from the quartermaster's office. It's not _that_ big a deal."

"Actually, Naruto does have a lot of sentiment attached to it," Sakura mumbled as she looked at Naruto's bare forehead. "He even wore it after we were issued new ones by the alliance."

"I thought you were dead," Kakashi explained, trying to draw some sympathy from the blonde.

"Feh!" Naruto replied before looking away from Kakashi and crossing his arms. "Loosing my protector that Iruka gave me…it'd better if I _had_ died!"

Kakashi blinked. _Is he…sulking_? The man tried to clear his thoughts, then looked over to Sakura. "Why didn't you just bring it with you?"

For some reason he couldn't figure out, Sakura blinked and looked away from the older man. "Uh…the seal I used to include more than one person in the time travel jutsu…it only effected people."

Then, when Naruto's expression turned into a grin, Sakura glared at the blonde and sent a wave of killing intent his way that set Kakashi's hairs standing on end. "I told you to never think about that again!"

As Naruto hid behind Kakashi, the older ninja let out a sigh and slumped his shoulders. _Well, their skills might have matured…but their personalities are the same as ever_. The real sad part was: he didn't know whether to call that a good thing, or a bad one.

A few minutes later when they left the tower, Naruto came to a stop. "Hey guys, you go on ahead. I'm gonna wait for Sasuke."

-Inside the Tower-

"So, I take it by that look, you know about your brother?" the Hokage asked with Sasuke glared at him in hatred. When Sasuke answered in the affirmative, he let out a sigh. "I see."

For a moment Sasuke stood silent, then looked up at the ceiling before the two ANBU hiding in the shadows dropped down onto the floor to fall unconscious. "That's better."

The old man looked at his guars for a moment, then sat back in his chair and relaxed. "…what shall we do now?"

"You mean before I kill you?" Sasuke asked.

The question didn't make Sarutobi tense up like Sasuke thought it would, instead, the man seemed to become even more downcast. "If you only wanted me dead, I doubt we'd be having this conversation at the moment," he replied. "But if it is my death you wish for in atonement for what happened to your family, I will not dispute that you have a right to claim it.

"And I will gladly give it to you, on the condition that is where it stops," he finished.

Sasuke glared at the man as his fists clenched. He wanted the man to suffer. He wanted to make the Hokage watch as all his family and loved ones died around him while the old an watched on helplessly. He wanted to beat the old fool to death while the Hokage spouted out the usual crap about the good of he village as he tried to defend himself. He wanted…wanted…

"I want to know why," Sasuke demanded.

Sarutobi nodded in understanding, then leaned back in his chair. "Why your family died?"

The question being posed by one of the four responsible for his parent's death -the one of the four that had gotten away from Sasuke's vengeance- made Sasuke's lip curl in fury. "I want to know why it came to that in the first place!" he demanded. "You people…the whole of your existence sickens me! Every day I grew up in this village I heard nothing but 'comrade this' and 'comrade that'. Yet when it come time to trust in _my_ family's word of their innocence, they found themselves shunned and carted off to a remote corner of the village while their so-called comrades spied on them!"

After hearing that from Tobi, Sasuke had cased aside such notions of comradely that the Leaf had instilled, and fallen back into the time honored truths of the world. Shinobi were tools. When they slow you down, you discard them. When your opponent uses one as a shield, then strike her down along with the man holding the hostage. That was the truth of how the shinobi world worked.

"It was my fault," he told Sasuke, but after seeing that wasn't enough, he shook his head and continued. "If you want to go back to the incident that started it all…after the Nine-Tails attacked the village, I was stricken by grief and foolishly closed myself off for a time. When I came to my senses, the council had already restricted the Uchiha to the compound that you grew up in.

"After I regained the position of Hokage, my hold on the position was weak at best. But I suppose I'm just making excuses, aren't I?

"The truth is: _I_ was weak. They call me 'The God of the Shinobi', but good soldiers don't always make good leaders. Instead of trying to lead my people out of a bog of suspicion and fear, I foolishly went along with my advisors. All the while telling myself that I couldn't see a better solution; something I'm ashamed to say I've been doing ever since."

Sarutobi shook his head. "The First Hokage, who joined the mortal enemies of Uchiha and Senju together, and the Second Hokage, who placed his trust in the Uchiha when they decided to not support Madara," the man mumbled. "Compared to them, the Third Hokage, who allowed suspicion and hated to fester in his village…is nothing but a failure."

Sasuke poured more of his chakra into his eyes to bring them into their Mangekyo state, and glared down at the Third Hokage. "Are you done yet, old man?"

Rising out of his chair, Sarutobl looked at the other shinobi in the eyes. "Yes, I suppose I am. But, I think the real question is: are _you_? I think, if you were truly just interested in revenge, you wouldn't have bothered to talk to me after that door closed."

"When I allied myself with Naruto to use the jutsu, I made a promise to him that I would not harm the Leaf," Sasuke told him evenly. "I'm sure that idiot was hoping I could forgive this damn village for what happened or some such nonsense eventually."

"So, you did turn against us…I was afraid that would happen one day when you learned the truth. Secrets have a way of coming out," Sarutobi said as he put his hands behind his back. "And your word… I'm an old man Sasuke. Despite what people say about shinobi, we still have hearts. When our heart conflicts with our duty or honor, the heart always wins."

_Even when that heart is full of hatred_. Sasuke agreed in his thoughts. His toned turned dark. "I admit, seeing you sitting before me , knowing the others who ordered my family's death continue to live wrapped in their self-righteousness and remain in power, the thought of killing them again…as well as you…it fills we with an anticipation for that moment that I can barely contain."

Sasuke focused his chakra and prepared a Genjutsu that would paralyze the old man for the second Sasuke needed to put a Chidori through his heart. He could see the Hokage studying him before the old man broke the silence. "So, why haven't you done so already?" the old man asked.

Several minutes later, Sasuke checked read the scroll in his hands for the tenth time since receiving it, then rolled the thing up and pocketed it before exiting the Hokage's tower. He was a little insulted to find Naruto waiting for him. "Something wrong?"

The blonde studied him for a minute with his arms crossed. Geeze you were in there for _hours_!"

"It was only half an hour idiot," Sasuke replied before Naruto switched the topic of their conversation.

"Well, I didn't see any explosions, blood, or giant chakra things trying to kill anybody… What'd the Hokage want to talk to you for? I seriously doubt it was about money."

"That's between me and him," Sasuke replied, bringing an end to the matter; and hopefully shutting Naruto up altogether.

Of course, those hopes were quickly dashed. "Damnit, you're always pulling this crap you ass!" he nearly shouted. "I could feel the pissed off coming from up there. So what happened?"

"The old fool did what he always did," Sasuke replied.

Sasuke could tell Naruto wanted him to say more on the subject, but the blonde just crossed his arms and sighed. For an idiot, Naruto was suprisingly good at reading people. "Whatever…uh, fair warning by the way, Sakura's probably going to drag us to get new clothes sometime tomorrow."

It took a moment for Sasuke to process the information as it was so…different than what he was used to. "What?"

"Well, we don't really have any clothes that fit anymore," Naruto half-explained. "So I guess she _does_ have a point in that we need new ones."

"No need for me to go then. There's plenty in the things leftover from my clan still in storage," Sasuke told him.

Naruto stood there silent for a moment, then gave him look of apprehension. "Yeah uh…walking around in the clothes of your dead family members…even _I_ can see that's not a good idea. _Especially_ for a guy like you."

Then Naruto shook his head and sighed. _Well if I went and brought up the Uchiha, it's not like I can just leave it like that._ "Look, I know your family got screwed over with all this stupid backroom deal crap that's going on in the Leaf. But it was _four guys _who decided that, not a village."

"And yet a village stood by when a clan of Senju bootlickers rose to claim the position of Hokage, and filled the positions of leadership with their own hangers on while the clan that founded the Leaf and expanded the Fore Country's borders at the cost of their own lives were shunned," Sasuke countered.

Naruto cocked an eyebrow. "Hey, you don't have to tell me how much most of the people living here suck. I was hated my entire life till I saved these people, then they all wanted to be my best friend. So I know their cowardliness and stupidity better than _anyone_."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Do you have a point, or are you just going to keep going on with that useless understanding crap you're always spouting?" he asked.

"I'm not asking you to stay in the Leaf for them," Naruto told him. "I'm asking you to do it for _us_; for _our_ generation. They didn't have anything to do with what happened to your family! Stop living in the past and try building something for the future!"

Since it seemed as if Naruto had _finally _stopped with his preaching, Sasuke spoke up. "As I remember, you tried that already. Remember what happened?" Sasuke turned away and headed down the street, into the night.

This time, Naruto didn't have a comeback, and he didn't follow.

-Sakura's House-

Laying on the bed, Sakura found herself just looking up at the ceiling, unable to sleep. Dealing with her parents reactions had been more difficult than she imagined it to be.

According to the laws, no matter the age, children were considered adults when they became chunin. The first thing Sakura had done once that happened was get her own place. After that, anything she did, they didn't need to know; and they slowly became a smaller and smaller part of her life. By the time Sakura actually did anything truly dangerous, they weren't told about it because of their lack of security clearance.

It wasn't that she didn't love her parents, but…they weren't ninja. They didn't understand.

She had come home almost four years older, and Sakura's parents reacted just how as she knew they would. They fussed, argued with Kakashi, and did everything short of sending her to her room like a child; which they thought she still was.

_I really need to pass the exam first go around this time_, she told herself. Living with her parents as she was now would drive Sakura _crazy_.

Then, Sakura put such thought aside, and focused her mind towards a much more important matter.

Ino… Sakura needed to see Ino first thing tomorrow. Okay, she needed to see Ino's dad before that so he could tell her about what happened, _then_ see Ino. Sakura really didn't want to know how Ino would react if Sakura just showed up on her doorstep as she was now.

As to what to do after that…Sakura didn't know if she should break the news to Ino, or ask the girl for her forgiveness for everything right off the bat.

-Ichiraku-

Naruto took a long whiff of the ramen old man Teuchi passed over, then separated his chopsticks and prepared to dig in. Unfortunately, it seemed the old man wanted to make some pre-dinner conversation, putting a temporary halt to Naruto's enjoyment.

"So, three years in one day huh? That must have felt pretty strange."

After taking in a few noodles, Naruto looked up to nod. "Well, I don't remember much of it. I just woke up taller is all. Then walked home," he said before looking down at his clothes. "Okay, I woke up, stole some new clothes, _then_ walked home."

The old man chuckled. "That makes you, what? Sixteen?" When Naruto nodded, the ramen chef gave the blonde a smile that sent a chill down his spine. "You know, Ayame here is sixteen."

"_DAD_!"

"What?" the older ramen cook defended himself. "Naruto here's sixteen now, and a father has to make sure his daughter can be provided for. Nobody has it better than ninja except the daimyo's court when it comes to luxury and income."

Ayame didn't seem convinced as she frowned back the older ramen cook. "Weren't you listening. He just _looks_ sixteen," the girl said as she crossed her arms underneath her breasts that looked _way_ too much like Sakura's 'scolding stance' for Naruto's comfort. "And quit trying to marry me off already!"

When she turned and noticed Naruto's unease, she gave him a bright smile. "Ignore the old man Naruto. I swear, he tries to get me to hook up with every ninja that comes to eat here over fifteen."

Naruto did his best to smile to show he didn't take offense before gulping down the noodles in his mouth. "It's okay," he assured her while banishing the thought that came into his head of how anybody that hooked up with Ayame would have free ramen for life.

Still…free, homemade ramen for _life_…the thought was…

_Wait…didn't she say she wanted to become a tsukemen chief once_? Naruto reminded himself, shattering his dream with the thought of having to eat meals where the noodles and soup were separated. Ramen needed to stay ramen, end of story. Making ramen any other way was so…_unnatural_.

"Well I'd better get going, tomorrow's gonna be a busy day," he told the cooks before paying for his meal and started heading home. As soon as he was away from Ichiraku, the worries that the ramen had insulated Naruto from came back full force.

Orochimaru, Nagato, Tobi…Sasuke, the list just went on. Akatsuki needed to be dealt with, but they couldn't do it by bringing the other countries together. Naruto had seen the problems that created.

He felt a little guilty about lying to the old man about what really happened in the fight against the Akatsuki, but both Naruto and Sakura agreed that having a repeat of their victory would only bring about the same disaster that came about the first time.

_Will the world ever be ready for that kind of change_? Naruto wondered.

Looking back on things, Naruto wondered why hadn't he been able to see where things would have gone ahead of time. Was it simple naiveté on his part, or something more?

Naruto let out a sigh and stopped thinking about the past before he gave himself another headache. "Stupid old pervert, dumping this prophecy and peace stuff on my shoulders," he grumbled.

Then there was his other, more immediate problem: Sasuke.

The more he thought about it, the more Naruto realized what his previous mistakes to deal with the missing-nin had been. He had tried to deal with Sasuke the same way he dealt with Gaara. But Sasuke wasn't Gaara, if anything they were polar opposites. Gaara had been like Naruto, desperately seeking warmth and recognition.

Sasuke didn't want recognition. He didn't need it. He just wanted to inflict the same pain on others that had been inflicted on him. His whole life had been built around it.

For a moment, Naruto wondered if the village had planned it that way with Itachi killing his family and then going missing for so long, despite his continued allegiance… _But the old man wouldn't have_ _done something like that_, _would he_? Naruto asked himself.

Naruto shook the thought away. If he found himself lingering too long with those kinds of thoughts, he'd end up just like Sasuke.

But it wasn't just Sasuke, it was…_everyone_. Other ninja who had lost people turned their hatred towards the people responsible, and in turn created hatred among the survivors to seek revenge in turn. Even after everyone had joined together and saw what they could accomplish, those old wounds were opened, and brought the alliance crashing down.

_So, just what is the answer_? Naruto asked himself.

-Hokage Tower-

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked down on his village as the lampposts illuminated the dark streets. He could see the occasional person trying to run home, but the oversized village looked mostly deserted to the untrained eye…or an old man several stories up.

"Lord Hokage?"

Hiruzen looked back at the ANBU guards, freshly recovered from the young Uchiha's Genjutsu. Once they had both gotten back on their feet, he addressed them. "No lasting damage I hope gentlemen?" he asked.

"No sir…if I may ask, what just happened?" the ANBU in the cat mask said.

On reflex, the old man almost told them to forget what they had just seen. Instead, he simply replied, "It was…one of my greatest mistakes from long ago…and the one I think taught me my greatest lesson since I became Hokage."

He waited for the two men to recover fully, then walked out of his office and onto the balcony that faced the monument. The full moon let him see the faces staring down at the village clearly, and Hiruzen felt as if the Hokage were looking down…

"_Those of the village believe in me, and I believe in them_," _the First told him_.

"_Listen Saru, guide the people, and believe in them_, _the Second said_.

…and found the man who inherited their post wanting.

Feeling his age, the Hokage addressed the stone faces. "I've tried to live up to your expectations. Under my leadership, the village has won numerous wars, and expanded its power. The academy is creating genin on a whole different level than their predecessors, and our mission pool is the highest of any village. But, a village is more than its military strength, isn't it?"

While their military strength had increased, the village's integrity and cohesiveness had fallen. They had ostracized their comrades out of fear, sacrificed an innocent man for the sake of placating an enemy, and Hiruzen watched as Naruto had grown up despised for reasons most of the villagers didn't even comprehend.

All for what?

"_For the good of the village_."

The words of his friends rang in his ears, words that had come out of his own mouth far too many times whenever a hard choice came, and he chose the safer route by sacrificing the lives of others in order to not put the greater population at risk.

_But were those choices truly the right ones_? Hiruzen asked himself.

By choosing the lesser sacrificing instead of betting the lives of the majority on the future, the seeds of animosity had been planted in the Leaf's own people among those who felt the pain of those losses. On top of which, Hiruzen had found his own judgment leaning more and more towards what was acceptable, rather than what was right.

"Well, I'd better get some sleep," he told himself.

If he intended to turn things around, tomorrow was going to be a long day.

-Elsewhere-

Itachi managed to suppress his cries of pain while he finished winding the bandages around his left arm to hold in the salve. It was a rough job when done with only one hand, but it would keep the pain from the burns from driving him crazy and help them heal faster. He didn't look forward to changing them in the morning.

With the last of his injuries taken care of, the man picked up the jar containing his victory prize. Thanks to Madara's mask, his eye had survived the attack that left him dead. As for Itachi, the entire left side of his body aching when he saw the reminder of why he was so beat up…

_Backed into a corner, Itachi watched as his Sharingan displayed all the possible attack patterns that Madara could move in with. There was no way of dodging his opponent's next move_.

_A millisecond before Madara's attack connected Itachi formed the hand sign for a shadow clone that appeared right as the masked man's absorption attack began. For a moment, Itachi found himself being pulled into the old Uchiha's pocket dimension, then he experienced vertigo from being let go of the technique while Madara shifted his weight to jump away…a second to late_.

_The clone exploded, and Itachi slammed his hands together to focus his chakra_.

"_**Water Style: Water Wall**_," _Itachi shouted before the canteens on his belt broke open to create a defense against the flames half a second too late._

As the memory faded, Itachi consoled his aches and pains with the fact that the leader of the Akatsuki was dead. _If I had acted to defend myself first, it would have been too late_, he told his burns.

But the Nine-Tails captured, Sasuke missing, and Itachi injured. Even with Madara dead, the Akatsuki still had its front-man to give orders and direct their actions. To top it all off, he wouldn't be able to act for some time thanks to his injuries.

The bad still greatly outweighed the good.

_Three days to adapt to the new Sharingan…assuming it will even work in my body_, Itachi told himself. But, Madara had seemed assured Itachi's eye would work for him, so he held onto the chance that the reverse was true as well.

But before he could attempt such a delicate procedure, he needed the use of both hands. _At least a week to heal myself enough for my arm to be of any use_, he surmised. The skin could be fixed easily enough, but restoring the fine motor control needed for delicate operations would take some time.

He would need to hide out from the Akatsuki until then. Itachi didn't know how much the front-man Pain knew about the newly made eldest Uchiha, but Zetsu was aware of everything…and Itachi had a sneaking suspicion that Kisame was at least keeping an eye on him.

It was Zetsu Itachi was really worried about. Keeping that…thing off his back would be next to impossible. The combo-man was a master assassin, able to hide their chakra and move through any material at will. In an upfront fight they didn't have a chance, but the moment Itachi dropped his guard to sleep, the creature would be able to kill him without any trouble.

"Time to get going," the young man said after placing the last of the tags on Madara's corpse. Slightly modified from the usual explosion note, they could create an intense and lasting burst of fire to cremate the body.

If Itachi was lucky, the lack of Akatsuki's real puppeteer would buy him enough time to recuperate before having to worry about pursuit. By then, he would be able to come up with a way to hide from Zetsu long enough to recover…he hoped.


End file.
